Writing and Reading, a never ending circle

25 January

The P word cropped up again last night, and it wasn’t directed at me directly either. It’s a longish tale, so if you are sitting comfortably, I’ll begin …

A couple of days ago, I mention that I have a tendency to procrastinate over my writing. In the past, I’ve also mentioned that my reading speed is quite slow, although that depends on what I am reading to some extent. Anyway, I began reading Game of Thrones 6 last week, and yet again I’m finding it rather hard going. This time I’ve only got to around page 140 and I just couldn’t face it last night. So instead I started reading more of the current edition of Writing Magazine, and is the where the P word comes in.

Lynne Hackles is a regular writer in WM and was saying that she was living a very busy life but still managed to write 3,000 words a week. It came to a stop when she had an accident which meant she had to give up her day job along with having all her other activities cut short. She hasn’t taken up another day job since then, and guess what, she still only writing around 3,000 words a week. That is where the P word comes in. The whole point of the article is a reply to the question. ‘What should my word count be daily?’ The answer really is, ‘Write as much as you are comfortable and are happy with.’ After all, writing is supposed to be fun and if the writer isn’t enjoying it, how can the reader enjoy it? Fair dos there folks.

So, what of GOT6? I’m not sure really, same with #7 in the TBR pile. Reading fiction should surely be fun too, and right now I’m struggling with 6. Not only that, there’s rumours going around that #8 is on the way. Thing is, I don’t like waste and the two paperbacks I have cost £16, not a lot really, but still wasted if I don’t read them, and that is without #8 too. There are a lot of books in my TBR pile, I’ve added a couple since I took that photo last week.

Most of them will get read at some point, and I’ve been here before with piles of books to read and I keep on buying. At some point, I decided, ‘NO MORE!’ So I stopped buying any books. I paid a sad price for that one too. We were visiting Trish, Jan’s sister at a camp site just off the A12 in Suffolk. We went off for a walk around Aldeburgh where we found a local charity shop, so we popped in to have a look. I always look at the books when I go in a charity shops and there I found a really tatty paper back that I was pulled to buy. It was hard for me to but it back on the shelf my friends, really hard. Now I wish hadn’t. The books was Letters From America, a Charles Dickens book I had never seen before, and never seen since. A miserly price of 50p too, but my TBR pile was still large at that point, and I’d said, ‘No more’. Oh heck … … …

I have a fancy for a trip to Hay-on-Wye, the UK capital of used books. I’ve been there a few times before and it’s always been a good day out. Normally I got there and come back with a lot of books, it’s a book-buyers wet dream is Hay. Both of the town’s cinemas have been converted to books shops, as has the castle. The choice is bewildering, and I love the place. There’s a one bookshop that has separate section in a large upstairs room, which is full of piles of old magazines. I’ve also had a good look at that lot too, and left there with a number of old mags that interested me. See, recycling old mags can be profitable. Hmmm … maybe it’s time for another run out to Astley Book Farm … ……

Today’s photo …

Oxfam bookshop, Cambridge.

Today’s funny …

Did you hear about the couple who met in a revolving door?
They're still going round together.